Today, from health care to automotive manufacturing, from the government to Google, almost every sphere of the society is increasingly relying on data to make important decisions and improve effectiveness in their respective industries. In fact, organizations that look at optimizing their data often benefit from hiring a collaborative team of professionals with backgrounds in applied and business statistics, data science, and programming.
What do you understand by Applied Statistics?
Applied Statistics and the science of learning from Data provides us with an approach to extract the right inference from numbers which helps us understand the problem, industry or market.
Statisticians offer some important insights in determining which data and conclusions are trustworthy. If statistical principles are correctly applied, analyses tend to produce accurate results. The art of applied statistics requires sensitivity to the ways in which theoretical assumptions may fail to hold, and to the effects.
Importance and Scope of Applied Statistics
With the rapid advent of Big Data over the last few decades, experts in fields of study related to data exploration have continually redefined themselves. The term “Data Science” has eventually grown from a synonym of “Statistics” to a distinct, essential function for many of today’s leading businesses.
The ability to act on data lags is far behind the ability to just collect and store data, and that is why statisticians, business analysts, and other data science professionals, are all equally important and in high demand.
In fact, applied statistics is one of the fastest-growing fields, and it’s only expected to get bigger. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated that the current field will grow 34 per cent by 2026.
This also means industries will need an additional 12,400 statisticians who are well-versed in data science to drive important business decisions. Also, according to the popular job search engine, Indeed.com, job postings for statisticians and data scientists doubled after 2014.
The future of data analytics and applied statistics in India is ever-growing and is enhancing mainstream as businesses of all sizes and analytics skill levels are getting into the big data game.
Exploring business data needs proper focus, best technology, right people, clean culture and best management promise. That is why companies like IBM, Cognizant, and KPMG are already utilizing business analytics tools and coming up with decisions that are valuable and effective.
Applied Statistics as a Career Prospect
One needs to obtain an appropriate skill-set to succeed in the statistics profession. Interpretation skills, in-depth knowledge of tools and techniques, the ability to do a thorough analysis and quantitative skills, are essentially required to shine in the subject.
Since statistics also provides the foundation for many data science techniques, stats experts can further evolve their skills to pursue data science careers.
M.Sc in Applied Statistics: Doorway to the Big Data Discovery
This course is for students/professionals who are interested in gaining a thorough understanding of the foundation of statistical theory and receiving advanced training in model building. Those seeking this degree will also learn data science concepts, as this new field has its roots in statistical theory.
Rated as the 2nd-best master’s degree for jobs by Forbes, an M.Sc. in Applied Statistics programme typically offers subjects that provide opportunities to acquire proficiency in programming languages. Students also learn to analyze a wide variety of data and will have the chance to apply their learning to real data sets.
Post-graduate experts in this field will be confident in their ability to provide organizational leadership with a validated and thorough data analysis review.
Job Opportunities after MSc. in Applied Statistics
Take a look at these five dream jobs you could pursue after a master’s in applied statistics.
1. Data Scientist
These professional analysts are the ones who model, analyze, and predict the performance of products/services. They also develop algorithms for problem-solving in businesses.
2. Industrial Statistician
For top brands like Coca-Cola and Nike, industrial statisticians play a crucial role in the decision-making process. These experts analyze the reliability of different markets and provide forecasts for companies that sell goods nationally and internationally, thus helping them in making informed selling decisions.
3. Environmental Statistician
The rapid changes in the environment make it even more important to understand how it is affected by growing development. Hence, Environmental Statisticians analyze data and understand the impact of growth and development on plants, animals, and ecosystems, for organizations like the United Nations, helping them to find the optimal balance between industry and nature.
4. Biostatistician
Biostatisticians are often brought in to analyze trends and results in public health — including chronic diseases, human development, and environmental health. They also design and conduct experiments, analyze data and interpret the results to assist decisions made in public health, medicine, and biology.
5. Statistician
Analyzing and understanding data isn’t just limited to lending a helping hand in selling products or giving sports teams the upper hand. Statisticians also use the data to interpret and summarize data for government organizations and provide guidance in matters of national and international security.
But, this is just the beginning! As the field of applied statistics continues to grow, more career opportunities will be added across a spectrum of industries—giving you more opportunities to pursue your dream job.
Still, wondering what abilities make for a successful statistician?
Well, think of him/her as a hybrid of data hacker, analyst, and trusted adviser. And believe us, this combination is extremely powerful and rare.
Ready to be one?